Belhaven to Alligator Marina

We continued along the Pungo River, crossed the Alligator cut, and then upwards on the Alligator River. The name Pungo River makes me laugh. It reminds me of an obscure journal entry from some turn-of-the-century pith-helmeted explorer. "We continued down the Pungo River in search of the elusive white rhino." We saw no rhinos, white or otherwise.

The waters here are red. That's from the trees around here, which make the water tannic. Locals say that back in the day ships would come here to fill their water tanks with this water. The acidity keeps the water free from bacteria, so the water is safer to drink and won't get "funky" on you.

Not that I'd drink it...

Fuzzy bills, EVERYWHERE!

While here we've experienced our first bug swarm. We're expecting a couple of those along the way. Fuzzy bills, the local call them. Midge flies. They resemble mosquitoes a bit, but they don't bite. Said our dockmaster, they come from the soil, fly around, land on stuff, then die. Largely, it's about cleanup. They are everywhere the wind is not. We washed the boat a couple of time during our stay, then again once we reached Alligator Marina.

These are more open waters, which means wind can have very bad effects. Our ride was choppy, and a bit chilly. We hoped that would changed as the week went on, but it looks like things will get worse. In fact, we're changing our plans. We wanted to go to a couple of little towns on the Albemarle Sound, but any east wind would make the travel rough. We watch the weather day by day, but we think we'll abandon the sound and slowly make our way to Norfolk.

That is, that's what we think right now...

Kudzo covered trees along the Alligator Canal